Ah, Wienerschnitzel. I hadn’t been here in years and two things converged to bring me here last weekend: 1) I got some gift cards from a PR person and 2) They were having a 61 cents anniversary special. Let’s do this.
The familiar steeple A frame is still present in all of the Wienerschnitzel’s in San Diego. I totally associate this look with hot dogs.
The menu. They don’t just have hot dogs anymore! There’s also a variety of chili burgers and sandwiches.
And chicken dippers, corn dogs, and pastrami.
Plus drinks and Tastee Freez desserts. They also have a variety of flavors for their dipped cones, including Cotton Candy, Chocolate, Caramel and Chocolate Caramel.
Cotton Candy sounds like it would just be really, really sweet, doesn’t it?
There are also Daily Specials on the sweet treats!
We were here specifically to take advantage of the 61 cents hot dogs for the 61st Anniversary. You could get the mustard dog, the chili dog, or the kraut dog for 61 cents.
[mustard dog / normally $1.59]
Here my mustard dog. I like how in the promo photo the mustard is all sqiggled onto the hot dog perfectly, but in reality, I think maybe they just threw mustard at it from far away. How else would you explain that there’s mostly mustard just on the end and a few splashed in the middle?!
It’s a standard hot dog, there’s not a whole lot to say about it. It’s priced right, it’s cheap, it’s… well… it’s a hot dog. Too bad they can’t steam the bun for you or do something to make it a little bit better.
[chili dog / normally $1.79]
What in the world happened here to this poor chili dog? I guess it’s too much to ask to only get chili within the bun. I know it’s messy, but a little effort? No? Okay. be that way.
I didn’t like the flavor of the chili . It was very sweet and not very tasty. Looking like a gloopy mess didn’t encourage me, either.
[bbq bacon angus beef hot dog / $3.39]
They have three new angus beef hot dogs if you’re looking for something a little more “gourmet” at Wienerschnitzel. We tried the BBQ Bacon but they also have Blue Cheese & Bacon and a Chicago dog.
The angus beef hot dog (which, sorry, you can’t see…) is thicker than it’s other hot dog counterparts and I thought it tasted better and plumper than the regular dogs. This particular dog was kind of hard to eat though since they just lay a strip of bacon on top. You kind of have to tug and pull to get a bite of that bacon. The onion strings were a fun touch – they are more like those canned french onion strings than freshly made ones. The BBQ sauce helped pull it all together. I did like the hot dog better in this one, but I also felt like there was so much “stuff” on top. I kind of just preferred the plain old mustard one but I really wanted onions on top (which I guess you can get if you order the Deluxe Dog).
[chili cheese french fry burrito / $1.29]
Jake wanted this. I thought it looked disgusting with it’s warped, wrinkly flour tortilla and how the french fries are not all inside this “burrito”. He liked it though. I didn’t even want to try it. Yeah, I’m totally a snob sometimes.
[curly fries / medium size – $2.39]
I liked the curly fries a lot. They were freshly prepared and exactly what I thought they would be.
[strawberry summer sipper / $1.99]
We also got a Strawberry Summer Sipper, one of their new beverages for the summer. It has a nice strawberry taste and one lonely piece of lemon. It was way too sweet though. The sugary flavor overpowered the strawberry flavor.
[old fashioned sundae / normally $2.69 – only $1.59 on Sundays]
I didn’t even look at what sundae flavors they had otherwise I probably would have gotten a Chocolate Caramel Crunch Sundae (one of the new flavors). But I just made Jake get back in line and get me a chocolate sundae because it sounded really good and it was hot outside! It comes with vanilla soft serve, chocolate syrup and a cherry. No nuts, sorry. But there’s plenty of chocolate syrup! It looks like they put the syrup in first and then fill it up which is a good idea – I think you get more chocolate this way. It was also good because then Jake could eat a bunch and avoid the chocolate he doesn’t like. Then I got to have chocolate syrup with pretty much every bite after that.
What did I think overall? Well… it’s okay. I mean… it’s cheap, fast hot dogs. That’s what they do. The Angus dogs do taste a little bit better but in the end I’d probably just head over to Costco and get a hot dog and a soda for $1.50 and then put all the onions I want onto my hot dog. I’d probably come here again for a dipped cone, a cheap hot dog and more curly fries though since they do have caramel dipped cones now (a new dipping flavor!) and that sounds like a good thing.
Disclaimer: I was provided with gift cards from a media rep for Wienerschnitzel so our meal was complimentary. I was not further compensated for this review and all opinions stated here are my own.
Wienerschnitzel
4393 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 277-0882
Is it ok if I say Wiener wins the award for fugliest food ever.
What’s up with the mustard on that hot dog. It TOTALLY looks like someone threw it on from far away. Haha! And that chili dog – wow. Messy food can taste great but when it doesn’t – sad.
I’m sorry but that french fry burrito has to be *THE* saddest food pic I’ve seen in 2014. Isn’t there a ‘Can you believe they sell this’ website you can submit that to. I can’t stop staring at that photo.
I’m a fan of sundaes that use hot fudge versus chocolate syrup. That’s why I’m such a sucker for McD’s sundaes.
I ate here last year and thought their hot dogs were meh. I think we also tried the chili hot dog and found the chili to be (too) sweet as well.
I 100% agree with you about the Costco hot dogs. Yums a million times over. I can’t believe it’s also .09 cheaper than the mustard dog here. Jeez.
Hi Faye –
Yes. It is totally okay hahah. I have no idea what’s up with their condiment skillz at Wiener. Perhaps they need to take a refresher class on “how to add condiments”. The french fry burrito… is… very sad looking. I guess what do you expect for a little over a buck? Something more than that, if you ask me. Yeah… it’s kind of weird to think the Costco dog deal costs less then one of their hot dogs. No one can say I didn’t give an honest review, haha.
Random story:
For my sorority we had to do a bit of philanthropy every month and I used to do Read Across America where you partner up with a kid at an elementary school (we used to go to the one in OB) and just hang out and read with them for an hour or two. This one year I got this super adorable little boy and when he asked me what I was doing that night I said I was going to my sorority formal. He then offered to be my date and said we could go eat Wienerschnitzel before the dance because it was his favorite food and they had the best fries in the world. Unfortunately you cannot bring a 5 year old to a sorority formal but I did promise him I would try Wienerschnitzel fries one day and I’ve yet to do it. Eek. At least they were probably the most photogenic food you got there!
Hi J.S. – That’s a cute little story, aww, think of how awesome he would have looked in a little tux haha! You’ll have to go try their fries and keep your promise! 🙂
Boo to the sloppy hot dog dressing skills of the Wienerschnitzel staff. My 3 year old nephew could do better!
Great looking fries though! Their dogs are okay, just basic. My husband likes them with chili (sloppy)
We’ve only been to the Wienerschnitzels in CV (on Palomar), in IB (on Palm) and in La Mesa (near the Kroc Center).
Root beer floats there are good though! Coupons are in that coupon book that we both have!!! use ’em! 🙂
Hi CC – Yeah… seriously… zero effort involved there. It was too much to have mustard over my entire hot dog, I guess. Yes, I was going through the coupon book again today to try and familiarize with it’s contents (it’s too much though). I should have used one of the coupons for our visit but I totally forgot!! I didn’t know we HAD that many Wienerschnitzels in town, hoenstly. There are more than I thought!
I usually rip out the coupons and organize them by parts of town (mid-city, south bay, north county, etc). i usually end up giving poway to carol and santee/east county to cathy since i hardly go up to those places. i am so anal. i have the coupons also organized by food type (mexican/italian/dessert/sandiwches, etc).
You are so hardcore!! I never thought to do that, it’s really smart. I should just throw away all of the Oceanside coupons haha! I envy you and your hardcore ways 🙂
Two funny stories from my personal history about Wienerschnitzel (which, by the way, I haven’t been to since I was a child):
1) A family friend who lives in the UK and who is very sophisticated and has eaten in the best restaurants around the world is obsessed with the chili dog and we have to take him there, first thing so he can get his fix.
2) A business associate of my husband just had to go to there when he was visiting us, so he drove twenty miles to the nearest location for lunch. When he returned, I asked him, “How was it?” He rolled his eyes and said, “I had to stand in line, the people were rude and the food is disgusting!”
Hi Janeen – Either you love it or you don’t! Food has a funny way of being a trigger for happy memories, too. Maybe that’s why your UK friend loves it (or maybe just truly loves their chili). Polar opposite reactions! Fun stories, thanks for sharing 🙂